1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to missile guidance systems. More specifically, this invention relates to improvements in the guidance of line-of-sight commanded missiles.
While the present invention is described herein with reference to particular embodiments and applications, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Modifications may be made within the teachings of this invention without departing from the true spirit and scope thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A typical line-of-sight guided missile system includes a launcher and a guided missile. The launcher typically includes a gunner's optical sight and an electronic guidance computer which automatically sends steering commands to the missile in flight. After launch, a beacon in the tail of the missile is activated and subsequently detected by a sensor on the launcher. The sensor is bore sighted with the gunner's telescope, and allows the operator to track the missile along its flight path. The sensor and associated processing circuitry measures the angle between the flight direction of the missile and the gunner's line-of-sight. These displacements are transformed by a computer into guidance commands which are sent to the missile over the command link. The gunner need only keep the crosshairs of the sight on the target during missile flight.
Unfortunately, in an actual hostile operational environment, the operator may experience nervous jitters which would tend to impair his ability to maintain the cross-hairs on the center of the target's most vulnerable aim point. If the operator jitters the sensor line-of-sight, the missile tracker would measure a corresponding apparent missile off-set. As it corrected the nonexistant off-set, it would create perturbations which would appear as noise in the missile guidance signals. This would detract from the hit-accuracy of the guidance and tracking system.